The Day After: Analyzing the Chiefs victory over the Eagles

One week after the win at New England, the Kansas City Chiefs took down the Philadelphia Eagles in a much different, yet familiar victory.

The crowd was loud, the air smelled of the finest barbecue, and the play on the field was unspectacular. Then the play on the field was spectacular. Then it wasn’t. The review of this Chiefs game versus the Eagles compared to last week’s has many more issues to focus on. The Chiefs offense was boring and lost at times, and the blocking was horrible much of the game. The defense seemed like it wanted to break more times than it bent.

There was plenty to take away from this game. The Eagles are a good football team, there’s nothing wrong with having a tough game against a tough opponent. The game plan for the Chiefs didn’t seem to be working, or at the very least, not well executed. In the end, however, the Chiefs find themselves undefeated on the young season, having already played two extremely strong opponents. Let’s take a look how it all went down.

1st Half

Welcome to Arrowhead Stadium, Eagles fans. I heard you amongst the Kingdom making some noise. Very impressive. The Chiefs shot out of the gate looking just like they did in New England. A quick jib and a jab then a 44 yard pass to Travis Kelce on the opening drive seemed to set the tone of what was predicted. This game was going to be offensive show. Wrong. A couple of incompletions later and Cairo Santos kicked his first field goal.

The Eagles answered with their own impressive drive with a lame ending. Darren Sproles looked really good as the feature back when the Eagles used him. The Chiefs were forced to punt their next three possessions. On these possessions, Kareem hunt had only 4 rushes for 4 yards. The lack of a run game forced the Chiefs into passing situations early, and the Eagles defense took advantage. For the majority of the game ,the Eagles front seven owned the Chiefs offensive line. The pressure on Alex Smith hurried his throws and caught him in the backfield numerous times.

The defense for the Chiefs held their own until the end of the half. Chris Jones had a start to what was an epic game for himself personally. The Chiefs caught a break when Darren Sproles fumbled on a punt return with only above a minute left in the half. James Winchester is a special teams monster for the Chiefs. Again the Chiefs barely had enough time to say hut before Eagles defenders were swarming Smith and collapsing the pocket. Santos in for the field goal with 17 seconds left in the half. Chiefs lead at halftime.

Wait!!! An 11 yard run by Sproles and a Carson Wentz pass deep to Zach Ertz for 53 yards set up Jake Elliott with a 30 yard game tying field goal. Wide left. There is just something about kickers with the last name of Elliott. Chiefs go into the half with the lead.